Apple is finally making it easier to repair your iPhones by allowing customers and third-party service providers to utilise used Apple parts in repairs. The Cupertino-based tech giant says the new process will help maintain user privacy, security and safety, while offering customers more options and increasing product longevity.
Announcing the update in a blog post, Apple wrote: “Used genuine Apple parts will now benefit from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration, just like new genuine Apple parts.”
Notably, Apple users were previously unable to repair their iPhones with used parts due to a process called ‘parts pairing’, which matches the serial number of the device to the new part sold by Apple. So if an iPhone user replaced their display or camera with a used part, they would receive a notification saying that Apple couldn’t verify the newly installed part and the new hardware could cause Face ID and Touch ID to stop working.
However, Apple has previously defended the process, saying that using genuine components in its devices is necessary to maintain user privacy and security. Despite the change in process, Apple has continued to defend ‘parts pairing’, with the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, telling TechCrunch: “Parts pairing, regardless of what you call it, is not evil. We’re basically saying, if we know what module’s in there, we can make sure that when you put our module in a new phone, you’re gonna get the best quality you can. Why’s that a bad thing?”
In addition to allowing the use of genuine older parts, Apple is also strengthening the process for tracking used iPhone parts. The company says it is adding the Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts to prevent stolen iPhones from being dismantled for parts.
“If a device under repair detects that a supported part was obtained from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted” Apple explained in its blog post.
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Published: 13 Apr 2024, 09:19 AM IST